


It Beats Punching Clowns

by leeryderlavellan



Series: Spooky Scary Sentiments [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort No Hurt, Fluff, Haunted House, Hugs, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I wrote this on halloween, Other, Swearing, but probably pre-revolution, gender neutral reader, hank's a grumpass do you really think he'd go to a haunted house, idk man, just some kisses uwu, lack of androids b/c i didn't want to decide on a timeline, not with a group of ppl that's for sure, sfw, spoopy, stayed up all night lmao, the fun kind not the actually haunted kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 12:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16492520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leeryderlavellan/pseuds/leeryderlavellan
Summary: Captain Fowler decides you and your co-workers need some bonding time, and since it's the spooky season, he knows just the thing: a haunted house. He just didn't expect you to bond so well with a particular grade-A asshole.





	It Beats Punching Clowns

You hated haunted houses. It wasn’t that you hated being scared, or that you hated Halloween – it was your favorite holiday, actually – but ever since you’d punched that one clown actor who’d scared you many years ago, you’d been too embarrassed to even consider visiting one again.

As such, it was with great chagrin that you found yourself accepting an invitation to join your coworkers in visiting one tonight. Apparently, it had been Captain Fowler’s idea, something about team bonding and stress relief – that didn’t mean you were obligated to go, but you had to admit that the idea of seeing your boss get scared shitless by some actor in a terrible costume was too good to pass up.

Plus, it had been Gavin who approached you about it. If there was anyone in the world you’d want to see embarrassed, it was him.

“Hey (l/n), you busy tonight?” he’d asked, leaning on your desk, and before letting you respond he continued, “Of course you aren’t. Bunch of us are going to a haunted house, you want in?”

You attempted to respond in the negative, but Gavin cut you off, explaining how it was the captain’s idea.

“We can’t just…go to the shooting range, like usual?” you asked, your face screwed up in discomfort. Gavin shot you a short glare, before his eyes lit up and he was grinning.

“What, you scared?” he asked, tilting his head to one side. You scoffed, but you didn’t exactly feel like explaining your situation to him, and he took your silence as agreement. “Holy shit. You are. That’s adorable.”

You wanted to correct him, but you were stunned by that last comment, and you turned back to your unfinished reports, hoping he didn’t see the heat rising to your cheeks.

No such luck.

Fortunately, Gavin took your blushing as a sign you were embarrassed. “You don’t have to go, you know,” he said, and you were again taken aback. He’d sounded less like an asshole than you’d ever heard, and you turned to see him regarding you with a soft expression – but only for a moment, before he was grinning again. “Then again, if you don’t, everyone will think you’re a scaredy-cat.”

“I’m not scared,” you sighed, and momentarily rested your head on one hand, elbow propped on your desk. “I’ll be there. Where is it and what time are we meeting?”

As you got the details from Gavin, you internally swore at yourself. Sure, you didn’t want to be thought of as the office ‘scaredy-cat’, but you were risking a bit of sanity by going to this haunted house. You prayed to whatever god was listening that no one would pay attention to you, and then smiled a bit to yourself as you realized they probably wouldn’t – you were kind of the quiet one in the DPD, and certainly if you could just make sure not to scream, no one would give you a second thought.

\---

The haunted house turned out to be only a few city blocks from your apartment, and while it was within walking distance, the October air had you hailing a cab instead. You had a car, but getting out of and back into your apartment complex’s lot was some bullshit you didn’t want to deal with just to travel a few blocks. Still, it was cold, so you opted for a taxi. 

The automated vehicle got you to your destination within a few minutes, and you regretted having to exit the cab as the chilly air brushed against you. Pulling your jacket tighter around you, you started to approach the entrance to the haunted house. You could hear the ambient music pouring out from the entryway – and soon after you saw your co-workers standing just inside. Tina caught your gaze and waved you over, and you managed a faint smile as you saw that it was her, Chris (who’d brought his wife), Gavin – and yes, even Captain Fowler – who were standing there. At least, if you did get end up screaming, Fowler would be there to make sure you didn’t get bullied. This was supposed to be for team-building, right?

Right?

You sighed inwardly and resolved to, at the very least, not punch anyone.

And then you noticed Gavin smirking at you, and you changed that resolution slightly – you wouldn’t punch any of the _actors_. Asshole co-workers? You didn’t see why not – other than the fact that your boss was there, obviously.

You pointedly ignored Gavin as your group was waved into the house itself, and you mentally prepared yourself for what might be inside. It’d been years since your last experience, and it honestly hadn’t been that bad – you just had a horrible, irrational fear of clowns. Most people shared your fear, which guaranteed there would be at least one in this hellscape you found yourself in.

The first room was standard fare, as far as you knew; some actors were dressed up as generic zombies, others as their victims, and your group made your way through that first room without even a startled gasp. It made sense, given that you were all cops and had seen, if not that amount of gore, your share of stressful situations. You pondered that for a moment, and realized it was probably why Fowler had picked such an activity for team bonding – if ever you were partnered up with any of your co-workers, it would be good to know how they reacted to stress, and a haunted house would be a safe place to experience that.

The second room was pitch black, and as your group moved forward, there were grunts and some nervous laughs as everyone bumped into what seemed to be a table in the middle of the room. Making your way around it, you were met with a wall – and no exit. Suddenly, the lights flashed on, and a scream rang out from behind you. Each member of your group whipped around and saw that the scream was coming from a disembodied head resting upon a platter on the table you’d all bumped into. Actors flooded the room, coming from behind panels in the wall you assumed, dressed as cannibals. They chased your group around and then out of the room, snarling and growling at you, in a clever way to get you to the next room, but you were surprised when you looked around in the new space and the only person at your side was Gavin.

“Where’d the rest of us end up?” you asked him, and he just shrugged, looking as casual as ever.

“Must be part of the plan,” he said, and you kind of hated him for being so nonchalant. You hadn’t even noticed the actors splitting you up, and now that you were stuck with Gavin, a pit was settling in your stomach.

When you didn’t move forward, Gavin looked back to you, his brow furrowed. “You comin’? Or is this the part where you piss your pants and run out?” he grinned, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

 _Just don’t punch him…_ you repeated over and over in your head, as you narrowed your eyes at him. You slowly started to walk up to him, averting your gaze in favor of looking forward, and then the two of you walked side by side down an increasingly narrowing hallway.

“What the hell is this about…” Gavin muttered, and you looked up at him to see his jaw clenching.

 _So, Detective Reed doesn’t like close spaces?_ you pondered to yourself, looking at him curiously. He caught you staring and flashed you a small grin.

“Like what you see?” he asked, and you rolled your eyes at him in an exaggerated motion.

“Just wondering why you’re shaking,” you asked him in a sweet voice, smiling at the glare he gave you.

“I’m not—you know what, you go first, if you’re so confident,” he said, and you lifted your eyebrows at him.

Turning your gaze back to what was in front of you, you realized one of you would _have_ to go first – the hallway wasn’t wide enough for two people. Thankfully, it was well lit, so there wouldn’t be any embarrassing mishaps while you were alone. Hopefully.

Taking one deep breath, you steeled your nerves and walked forward with what you hoped was a confident stride. Not that you expected Gavin to be paying much attention to how you walked—

You really hoped he wasn’t staring at your ass…although part of you was curious if he was. Grinning to yourself, you stopped walking suddenly, and it wasn’t long before Gavin bumped into you.

“What the hell, (l/n). Why’d you stop?” he grumbled, taking a step back.

“Why were you staring at my ass?” you asked, whipping around to catch Gavin’s surprised look.

“I wasn’t—” he began, then cursed, looking to the side. “Wasn’t…anywhere else to look, really…”

You snorted, laughing at the near-bashful expression on Gavin’s face. You’d never seen anything like it, not on him. He turned his gaze back to you and he _smiled_ – he didn’t grin, he didn’t smirk, he actually smiled – and your cheeks started to burn at the sight. You swallowed and turned back around, shaking yourself inwardly at your reaction, but you didn’t have to think on it for long, as the hallway soon opened up into a new room.

As faint carnival music hit your ears, you cursed under your breath. Looking around the room, you saw what looked like old children’s toys – a rocking horse in one corner, some creepy dolls, and then, of course, balloons.

You’d stopped moving again, you realized, as Gavin came to stand next to you. Thankfully, he didn’t look any braver than you did in that moment.

“So. Clowns,” he said, and you looked up to see a muscle in his jaw twitch.

“Yep,” you returned, and you were sure he could see the fear on your face as he turned to look at you.

“Want to – ah, shit, this is gonna sound weird – ...fuck it,” Gavin swore, sticking his right hand out towards you. You stared at it dumbly, blinking for a moment, before you realized what he was asking. He’d nearly retracted his hand back to his side when you grabbed it, maybe a bit too tightly, and gave him a small smile. He looked surprised, but then pleased, and you tried not to focus too much on the feeling of his hand in yours as the two of you moved your way through the room.

There wasn’t an actor to be seen, just more set dressing, and you figured you were nearly out of danger when suddenly there was a thunderclap all around you. You jumped, your free hand flying up to grab onto Gavin’s arm as the other squeezed his hand, but you managed not to squeal.

For a moment, neither of you moved, and the only sound – other than the horrible carnival music in the distance – was your labored breathing, but then you felt Gavin shift and realized he was looking at you with something akin to concern.

“Scared of thunderstorms?” he asked, only the hint of a grin on his face, and you made to take your hand off his arm, but he used his other hand to keep it there.

You shook your head, eyes becoming unfocused for a moment, and you nearly whispered, “Loud noises.”

“Mm,” Gavin hummed, but didn’t say anything more as he started to move the two of you again. He kept his hand on top of yours on his arm, and you slowly realized he’d started to rub circles with his thumb on the hand he held.

For reasons you couldn’t explain, it made you feel extremely comforted. ‘Fuzzy inside’, one might say.

And then the clowns appeared.

 _Well, that takes care of that,_ you thought bitterly, cringing as the actors approached the two of you with glee.

Gavin pulled you closer as he began to side-step the closest actor, and before you knew it, the two of you were all-out sprinting out of the room. Thankfully, you’d been near the end of it, and so you were able to catch your breath in the hallway – this one much wider than the last, but dimly lit. You let go of Gavin to put your hands on your knees, taking deep breaths, and he seemed to do the same. Still, you soon missed the warmth of his hands, and subtly shifted closer to him, grinning and nudging at him with one elbow.

“Safe to say if there’s ever a homicide at a carnival, Fowler is not sending either of us,” you quipped, which earned you a return grin.

“Yeah, fuck that,” he said, shaking his head. “Wonder what’s next…” he trailed off, turning his head to peer down the hallway, but frowning as he realized he couldn’t see anything.

You shrugged. “Guess we’ll have to find out as we go—”

You stopped speaking suddenly, as you could feel the presence of _something_ behind you. You just knew someone was standing there, and while you really didn’t want to turn around, you motioned to Gavin before doing just that—

and both of you screamed at the top of your lungs as you saw what had to be the scariest fucking clown you’d ever seen in your entire life looming over you. You didn’t quite register the action of jumping towards Gavin until you felt his arms close around you, and then you felt the sensation of being carried as you screwed your eyes shut. You knew  
you were moving, but unaware how, until Gavin stopped running and you were once again alone with the sound of your breathing.

When you _did_ finally realize what had happened, you felt a number of things.

Impressed, for one, that he was able to catch you with relative ease, and then cart you off like he wasn’t carrying another person.

Relief, that he hadn’t immediately dropped you and left you there.

And, though you loathed to admit it, a sudden urge of attraction as you opened your eyes and found that Gavin was still holding you up. You yelped, for lack of a better reaction, and shifted your legs so he would know to let you down. He did, and you took several steps backwards, until your ass hit the wall.

Then you sighed, settling on that feeling of relief.

 _Shit, this has to be the most awkward situation I’ve ever been in,_ you thought to yourself, looking anywhere but at your co-worker, who was most assuredly giving you his signature asshole smirk.

To your surprise, when you looked up, he was not. And he was a lot closer than you’d hoped – he was able to trap you against the wall with both hands on either side of your head.

“Y’know, generally, you should thank someone for something like that,” he said, his voice dropping into a gravelly tone.

You peered up at him meekly, having no idea how to interpret the look on his face – was he going to _eat_ you? That was what it looked like.

What did he _want_?

_Oh._

If you could have safely slapped yourself on the forehead, you would have. As it was, Gavin’s face was too close for that, and so you swallowed your pride (having no dignity left to speak of) and moved your head towards his. It wasn’t your best work, you had to admit; you were a bit shaky, and it was difficult to keep your lips steady on his – that was, until he took over, moving his hands down to settle on your shoulders and pushing you back against the wall.

From there, it was simple. When you felt Gavin’s hand move to your neck, you mirrored his movement, both hands finding purchase in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. He growled at that, or as much as he could against your lips, and slipped one hand down to rest on your ass, pulling you closer at the hips.

Suddenly, you remembered where you were. As much as you wanted to give in to what Gavin was making you feel, the rational part of your brain was telling you not to have sex in a haunted house.

What a party pooper.

You pulled your head away, sighing as Gavin turned his attention to your jaw, but then pushed at his chest so he’d get the hint.

He looked at you for a moment, still holding onto you, and then let go of you, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking away.

“It’s not that I, er…” you trailed off, unsure how to broach the subject of your only recently discovered attraction to him, but he shook his head.

“Not the place, I get it,” he said, and then looked at you, contemplating. “You know, a simple ‘thanks’ would have done the job,” he smirked, and you widened your eyes at him, but he cut off any response by pulling you close once again. “Don’t get me wrong. This is much better.”

“Th-thanks…?” you managed, swallowing thickly as he moved his head towards yours again—

And then a beep sounded from somewhere above you and you pulled back abruptly.

A voice with a synthetic filter sounded from what must have been a house-wide intercom: “If the couple in hallway D could refrain from…intimate displays, it would be appreciated.”

You blushed, both at being caught and at being thought a couple with Gavin, and soon felt his hand close around yours again. You looked up at him in surprise, but he was already pulling you towards the next room.

“Don’t want you getting scared again,” he smirked, and then briefly glanced back at you, giving you a horrible wink. “Or maybe I do, who knows?”

\---

The rest of the rooms passed without incident, and you breathed a final sigh of relief as you exited the haunted house, finally reunited with the rest of your group.

Tina was giving you a knowing look, while Fowler looked at you sternly, giving a slight shake of his head. Chris winked at Gavin, then walked off with his wife.

“Intimate displays, huh?” Tina asked with a grin.

You sputtered something about Chris and his wife, but Tina shook her head at you.

“They were with us the whooole time,” she said, looking far too happy with herself for your liking.

“Look, you two,” Fowler began, and you braced yourself to get reamed, but he only said, “whatever you do off DPD property is none of my business. And I want it to _stay_ that way.”

“Y-yes sir,” you replied, looking a bit stunned as he turned and walked away, Tina soon doing the same.

Despite having essentially been given permission, and despite your own brazen actions inside the haunted house, you suddenly felt very shy about the prospect of initiating a romantic relationship with Gavin. On the one hand, you supposed it had already begun – your hand almost itched with the absence of his, and you assumed that had more to do with the meaning of that contact rather than the warmth of it – but on the other hand…

Gavin? Gavin _Reed_? Not exactly boyfriend material. And who knew if that was even what he wanted? He could have just responded out of physical urges. He might not feel any special way towards you. You certainly couldn’t recall any evidence to the contrary.

Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t hear him say your name until the third or fourth time he repeated it.

“(l/n). (l/n)! …(y/n)?” Gavin said, and placed a hand on your shoulder. You flushed as you realized you had heard him, but you’d been so focused on your internal monologue that you didn’t realize he’d been speaking to you.

“Sorry, I was…zoning out,” you admitted, rubbing the back of your neck.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Gavin grinned down at you, and your stomach did a flip.

“What did you, uh…what’s up?” you asked, fighting the urge to cringe at your own ineptness.

“I was gonna ask how you got here,” he replied, slipping his hand down from your shoulder to your arm. “Because I don’t see any other cars besides mine in the lot.”

“I…took a cab,” you said, and then shivered a bit as a gust of wind blew against you.

“C’mon, I’ll give you a ride,” Gavin said, and began steering you towards his car.

“Y-you don’t have to! I don’t live that far away, actually,” you said, trying – albeit halfheartedly – to pull away from him.

Gavin gave you a look that meant he was either confused, or thought you were an idiot. Possibly both. “You don’t live that far, but you called a cab…”

You looked at the ground, sheepish. “It’s cold…” you mumbled, shrugging your shoulders a bit. Gavin laughed at that, and before you could look back up at him, he’d pulled you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you.

“You really are adorable, you know that?” he asked, and you were struck by how odd but somehow nice it sounded coming from him. “I guarantee you it’s warmer in my car than it is out here,” he added, voice dropping back down into that gravelly tone from before.

You didn’t know how to respond. You were frozen in place, partially because you didn’t want the hug to end, and partially because you truly had no idea where to go from there.

After a moment, during which Gavin was apparently content to just hold you, you finally piped up, “You’re offering to take me to _my_ place, right?”

He chuckled again, breath fanning against your hair, and gave a quick kiss to the top of your head before pulling away with a grin. “Yeah, shorty. How else am I gonna know where to pick you up for our date tomorrow?” he asked, though it was clearly rhetorical, and your mouth hung open at his words. 

Though you wanted to act mildly offended at his assumptions, you were inwardly pleased with finding out his intentions – as far as you knew, a date indicated romantic interest. And while you weren’t certain as of yet what your feelings towards Gavin were, you did know that you wanted to explore that avenue.

You smiled to yourself as he pulled you towards his car, even more when he opened the passenger door for you, and you climbed inside without hesitation.

It _was_ warmer in there than it was outside. Especially when you caught Gavin’s eye as he turned the key in the ignition, his eyes locking with yours as he smirked, causing your stomach to do another flip.

Uh-oh. If that was how you reacted to his resting face now, you were going to have trouble looking at him at work.

“So where are we headed?” he asked, and as you pulled out your phone and typed your address into the GPS app and Gavin started driving, you couldn’t help but wonder about that question in a general sense. Where _were_ you headed? 

You sighed, tilting your head as you regarded Gavin with a soft gaze, and realized then that you’d rather just see where the road would take you. With someone like him, you could only imagine the amount of second-thoughts you would have if you let yourself worry about the future.

For now, you’d focus solely on the present and what it offered, like the feeling of Gavin’s hand in yours and the warmth that blossomed in your chest at his touch.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're thinking 'oh no there's no way a string-bean like Gavin could lift me' just know that he can and would. He worked out just for you. Enjoy that mental image. (also I'm bad at titles and endings, pls forgive)


End file.
